By Tessy Igomu and Job Osazuwa
A mother and her three children were yesterday burnt to death in an early morning fire outbreak at 23B, Ogunleye Street, off Adekunle Kuye Street, Kilo Bus Stop, Surulere, Lagos.
The disaster, Daily Sun gathered, struck around 2.00am. Confirming the disaster, the General Manager of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Mr. Adesina Tiamiyu, told Daily Sun that the agency’s Emergency Response Team received a distress call at about 2:38am yesterday.
According to an eyewitness, the family, including the father, mother and three children were sleeping in one of the shops that was burnt by the fire. The family members were said to be fast asleep in the shop when the fire broke out.
The father, identified simply as Ignatius, sustained severe burns and was rushed to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital for treatment, while the mother, identified as Hope, and the three children, Chukwuka, 9, Nonso, 7, and Ugochukwu, 6, died on the spot.
Tiamiyu said the agency had recovered the bodies and handed them over to the police at Aguda Police Station for further investigations.
“The timely intervention of the agency’s ERT and Lagos State Fire Service prevented the fire from escalating to nearby buildings,” he said.
The GM added that proper investigation would be conducted on the incident to ascertain the remote and immediate causes of the outbreak. He, however, advised Lagos residents on necessary safety precautions against fire outbreaks. He also warned residents to avoid sleeping inside shops overnight.
Director, Lagos State Fire Service, Rasak Fadipe, also confirmed the tragedy.
In another development, 0ne person died, 16 rescued while many others were trapped when a three-story building under construction collapsed at Richard Abimbola way, off limca Road, Iri-Akari Estate area of the state .
As at press time rescue operation was still ongoing.
Tiamiyu, who could not confirm the casuality figures said the building collapsed on unspecified number of workers and that the agency was working hard to rescue the trapped victims.